


Shiny Teeth and Fangs

by DianaSolaris



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chronic Pain, Halloween, Lesbian Pidge, M/M, Minor Hunk/Lance (Voltron), Paranormal, Sheith Halloween Exchange, Vampires, Werewolves, drug mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 10:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12504860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DianaSolaris/pseuds/DianaSolaris
Summary: Shiro hasn't been home for a few years, and Halloween's as good a time as any... How better to cover up being a vampire than with a shitty vampire costume?It works. Mostly. Not really. Written for that-meiko-girl!





	Shiny Teeth and Fangs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MelMeikoMeiLing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelMeikoMeiLing/gifts).



When he was a kid, Shiro had loved Halloween. However, that had been before… a lot of things. Before leaving home for university, for one – standing on his old street was a bizarre experience now that all the trick-or-treaters came up to his waist.

           The second thing was that he was busy trying to work up the courage to knock on Keith’s door for the first time in five years.

           The third thing… well…

           Shiro reached up to his mouth, fidgeting with the fake plastic fangs that he’d managed to make fit over his real ones. Thank god people had weird ideas about what vampires looked like.

           He finally raised his hand to knock, and the door opened before his hand met the wood. “Shiro! You made it!”

           Shiro glanced down at the girl who’d opened the door. Funnily enough, it was the little pipe-cleaner antenna that helped him recognize her – “Pidge?”

           “Yep!” She grinned up at him through her mask of green face paint. “Man, you got tall.”

           “You didn’t.”

           “Nope!” Pidge twanged one of her antennae at him; it sent a shower of glitter all over his black cape and jeans, and he brushed it off the best that he could. “See? Now you’re a proper vampire.”

           “I knew I couldn’t trust you around Twilight.”

           “It’s so bad even text analysis tools can’t make it make sense. Come on, come on!” Pidge yanked him inside, and he blinked, trying to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. There were tacky glow-in-the-dark skeletons all over the place, cobwebs hanging down from the light fixtures, and – probably his favourite – a stuffed Count Von Count in the corner.

           “Making up for all the ones you missed?”

           Pidge snorted. “You bet. Fibromyalgia can kiss my ass, I got morphine.”

           “…Pidge.”

           “Okay, it’s not actually morphine. But you know what I mean.”

           Shiro rolled his eyes, but gave her shoulder a squeeze. “I… I didn’t mean to vanish. I’m sorry.”

           Pidge glanced up at him, a quick look of hurt in her eyes, then she shrugged. “Stuff happened. Right?”

           Stuff. Right. He adjusted his false fangs again. It was a wonder she could hear him through them. “How have you been?”

           “Pretty good! I have a major in computer engineering now, how cool is that?”

           He blinked, then lifted his fingers, trying to count. “…Aren’t you like, twenty?”

           “Graduated at sixteen, finished in three years.” Pidge wandered over to the snack table. “Hunk! Look! He actually showed up.”

           Hunk glanced up from the crudités he was fiddling with – then suddenly Shiro was being gripped very tightly in arms that had no business being that strong. “Shiro! Buddy, I missed you!”

           “I missed you too, Hunk. It’s good to be back.” Shiro smiled, glancing around the room. “Okay, get me up to date. Is that Nyma over there?”

           Hunk grumbled something under his breath. “Yes. She’s dressed like the sexy pirate thing because Lance likes it.”

           “Lance?”

           “He’s upstairs.” Pidge snickered. “Avoiding Nyma.”

           “It was one bad breakup. Both of them need to get over it,” Hunk complained, with a touch of jealousy. Shiro suppressed the laugh. Some things really didn’t change, although now that he was back, he was tempted to throw Hunk and Lance in a closet together.

           “And who’s that? The uh –“ Shiro squinted. “Are they dressed as the villains from Avatar?”

           Pidge cackled, then cupped her hands together. “Lotor, your Zuko costume sucks!”

           “IT DOES NOT SUCK!”

           “The scar’s on the wrong side!”

           “IT IS NOT ON THE WRONG SIDE-“

           Pidge forked a thumb over at them. “Lotor, Acxa, Narti, Zethrid and Ezor.”

           “Two of which are Pidge’s girlfriends.”

           “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m dating three of them now.”

           Shiro took a sip of punch to cover his sudden blush. Well. That was new – if not entirely unexpected.

           Still… still, it was obvious what topic they were avoiding. It was a brutal elephant in the room, especially since Keith and Pidge lived together. And Shiro didn’t want to be the one to bring it up.”

           “So… what happened?”

           “Hunk, don’t –“

           “It’s okay,” Shiro murmured. “I –“ He didn’t know how to word it. “I met somebody.” Then he caught Hunk’s aghast look of horror. “Not like that! I – They –“ He sighed. “Maybe we can talk about this later?”

           Pidge was glancing at him with narrowed eyes – but before she could say anything else, a loud voice cut through the music. “SHIRO!” Lance had finally showed up, Nyma be damned.

           For the time being at least, the topic was dropped.

\---

           It was a little more than an hour later when Pidge came up to him. “Hey, you should go out back.”

           “Hm?” He still hadn’t seen Keith; he’d been mostly able to distract himself, but it was eating at him. If Pidge, Hunk and Lance were this hurt over him vanishing for half a decade, he was terrified to see how Keith would react.

           The truth was, he hadn’t realized it’d been so long. And it hadn’t hit home until he’d noticed that Lance had a goatee (admittedly a bad one), until he heard about Hunk’s job at a high-end restaurant, until he realized that their lives had all moved on without him. He’d been turned at a party in his first year of university – lured out into a parking lot, then his blood drained by a stranger whose name he’d never even learned. And then…

           And then his hair had stopped growing. He’d stopped sleeping at night. The sun had started to hurt. And time stopped having any meaning until he realized he was graduating a year late, which meant he hadn’t so much as spoken to the people he’d grown up with, the people he loved, for too long.

           He stepped out into the garden. He knew what Pidge was up to. He just wasn’t sure he was ready for it. “…Keith?”

           He could see the silhouette by the fence, his red jacket bright in the moonlight. It’d been a full moon yesterday and it was still gibbous and round, the shadow only starting to creep back over its surface.

           “…Hey.”

           “Hey. I’m – I’m sorry.” Shiro had never felt so tacky before, standing there in the cheap vampire costume meant to cover the very real changes. “I – I missed you.”

           Keith took a couple shaking steps forward. “I missed you too.” Now that he was closer, Shiro could see that he didn’t look well – but the awkward, hopeful smile on his face lit up his features so brightly that it didn’t matter how dark it was outside. “I – you came back.”

           “Yeah. I really – I just kind of –“

           “Lost track of time?”

           “Yeah.” Shiro wanted so, so badly to explain how true that was. But – “Keith, are you okay? Did – did something happen?”

           Keith opened his mouth, ready to dismiss it – then sighed, stepping out of the shadows completely. “I fucked up,” he mumbled. “Halloween wasn’t supposed to be the full moon.” His eyes blinked up at Shiro, yellow and bright; he chewed nervously on his lip with canines that were just a little too big for his mouth. And there was traces of fur on the backs of his hands, on the tips of his ears – “Pidge got me a costume to cover it and I clawed it all up yesterday. Because the full moon hates me.”

           A strong breeze probably could have knocked Shiro over. “Keith – are –“

           “Uh. So.” Keith scratched at his ear awkwardly. “Apparently when you aren’t around I get turned into a werewolf by the idiot guy I tried dating for a week. I’m not very good at this whole…adulthood thing apparently.”

           He smiled nervously up at Shiro, twisting a lock of black hair between his fingers. “It’s… probably not what you expected to come home to. I’m sorry –“

           Shiro couldn’t help it. He burst out into relieved, helpless laughter, eyes watering. He collapsed down onto the ground, leaning back onto one of his hands, and he couldn’t stop. A moment later, Keith was at his side, and it was like a drug, feeling this relieved.

           “Shiro? Shiro?”

           “You mean I didn’t – I didn’t need this stupid costume? I – Oh, fuck this.”

           Keith raised an eyebrow. “And when did you start swearing?” he drawled.

           Shiro yanked the false fangs out of his mouth, rotating his jaw. “Around the time some asshole decided to make me a vampire.”

           The look on Keith’s face, Shiro reflected, was worth framing. Then Keith punched Shiro’s arm. Hard. “Five years? Five years?”

           “It was an accident!”

           “Five years! Five years and you couldn’t figure out how to say, ‘Hey Keith, I haven’t been around because I joined the legions of the undead?’”

           Shiro couldn’t stop laughing. “I’m sorry! It’s – look, it’s not like you emailed me telling me you turned into a furry!”

           “I’m – oh screw you!” Keith turned bright red. “I am not a fucking furry!”

           “Now who’s swearing?”

           Keith launched himself at Shiro, his lips pressing indignantly against his old lover’s with a surge of heat. He flattened Shiro to the ground, only breaking the kiss to growl, “Don’t do that to me again.”

           Shiro gazed up at him, eyes soft. “I don’t plan on it.” Then – “Wait, who’d you date?”

           “Er –“ Keith turned red. Again. And buried his face in Shiro’s chest. “Um.” Then almost so quietly he couldn’t hear. “Which time?”

           “How jealous should I be?”

           “They all failed! Horribly!” Keith pouted up at Shiro – then smiled softly. “Mostly because I was hung up over you.”

           “Did you at least get laid?”

           “I – you – you can’t just ask me that!”

           Shiro laughed again, brushing his thumb over Keith’s cheekbone. It was good to be home. And after how much trouble he’d given himself, how hard it had been to psych himself up for it – it’d been worth it.

           He never should have doubted.


End file.
